Gaming the news: why today's hack events are tomorrow's headlines

The Guardian is co-organising a news game jam at the Rezzed gaming festival in London. Could this kind of experiment lead to new forms of journalism?

This week, the Guardian is co-organising a news game jam at the Rezzed PC gaming festival in London. Small teams of coders and designers will be given a selection of recent stories from the newspaper, and will then have 48 hours to create games based around the article they choose. The best entries will be made available via the Guardian site.

The idea of a "news game" is not, in fact, new. Since the mid-nineties, when web plug-ins like Flash made it possible to produce quick, cheap games then distribute them online, developers have been creating interactive news experiments. Italian studio Molleindustria was a pioneer, launching the fast food satire McDonald's Game and oil business expose Oiligarchy, while US developer Persuasive Games has tackled subjects like mass food production (Bacteria Salad) and airport customs (Airport Insecurity).

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